What is HCL Leap,
and how is it used?

This document provides an overview of the three main activities
that are involved in using Leap.

There are three main activities that are involved in using Leap:

Building forms

Publishing applications

Reviewing submissions

Forms and Applications

Throughout the Leap documentation,
the words form and application are both used to describe the output
that is created by Leap.
Forms are a single page, or collection of pages, that create the
user interface with which people interact. When a form is combined
with workflow, presentation logic and other elements of the Leap technology,
it becomes an application. Applications gather the submitted input
and automatically store the submissions in a database.

Building forms

When you start Leap,
you are shown a screen with two tabs on the Forms toolbar: Use and
Manage. The Use tab shows a list of all applications
that are created by other users to which you have access. The Manage tab
is where you create and manage applications. When Leap opens,
you are shown the Manage tab, which displays
any applications you created, or for which you have edit permissions.

To
create an application, click New Application,
enter a descriptive application name, and select Create.
A blank form is displayed.

Drag
items from the Palette and drop them onto the form. As you add items,
you can change the default name of each item directly on the form.
Click the name of the widget on the canvas to edit the name.

A built-in grid automatically aligns items on the
form, and expands vertically when you add items to the form. The default
layout is two columns and two rows. However, you have flexibility
when you build your form. You can stretch one form item to span across
all columns, and you can add and delete columns and rows as needed.
Click any border of a column or row to access a menu with options
for expanding or contracting your form.

When you click the Rules icon,
you can create rules for form items or for other objects. You can
set a rule to show or hide a form item, page, or other object that
is based on user input.

Some form items must be edited by opening
the Edit Properties window. For example, you
can add the survey questions on the form, but the question titles
can be edited only in the Edit Properties window.

When you click
the Edit Properties icon for any form item,
the Edit properties window opens. There are many tabs within the Edit
Properties window where you can set various functions.
For example:

Basic tab

Edit basic properties such as whether the title of a form item
appears on the form. The properties that are displayed in the Basic
tab vary based on the form item.

Advanced tab

More form item properties, such as web services are in the Advanced
tab.

Event tab

Define an event that happens based on user input, such as when
the user selects a particular option.

Formula tab

Create mathematical expressions to calculate field values and
validate form data.

Adding workflow elements to a form

There
are many cases where adding separate steps and restricting user access
to part of a form makes the form more useful. For example, you can
create a vacation request form that requires the approval of a supervisor,
or an award nomination form that requires the approval of both a supervisor
and a nomination committee. In the survey form example, the results
from the survey are useful feedback, but by adding workflow elements,
the curriculum supervisor can review comments before sending them
to the instructor. Adding workflow elements is done with Roles and
Stages.

Adding or editing Roles is done in the Access tab.
Adding stages is done in the Stages tab.

Roles – You can create
various roles with different levels of access to different information
within an application. For example, you can specify that only an administrator
can change an application, managers can review submitted data, and
users can complete and submit the form. After roles are defined, you
can assign users to the roles. Each role can have as many or as few
people assigned to it as needed. You can even assign groups to a role.
For example, all supervisors are assigned to one role, and all managers
are assigned to another role.

In the Access tab,
each role can either be Open or Closed. If you have a web service,
which pre-populates the role information, select Open.
For example, you want to use a web service to scan the company email
directory and automatically populate the name of the manager. If you
do not plan to use web services in your application, leave the role Closed.
The user must enter the name of the manager manually when they complete
the form.

Stages – Stages are the steps that a form goes
through in its lifecycle. For example, in one stage the user submits
data. In the next stage, the manager reviews and approves or rejects
the submitted data. An application can have as many stages as needed.
Stages are also useful as they allow a submitter to save a draft version
of the form. For example, on a census form that has multiple pages,
the submitter might not have time to complete the whole form in one
session. With the Draft button, the user can
complete part of the census, save a draft, then return to complete
the census later. A stage can hide or display information that is
necessary for one user, but not required for another. For example,
in our survey form, the curriculum supervisor must see the name of
who submitted the feedback. However, to allow for anonymous feedback,
the user's name is hidden when the feedback is forwarded from the
curriculum supervisor to the course instructor.

By default,
every form has a Start and End stage. The Start stage
is the first stage of every form. When the form moves from the Start
stage, it cannot return. End is final stage
of every form. When a form moves to the End stage, its lifecycle is
complete. The form cannot be submitted again and cannot be moved to
another stage.

To create a workflow, add stages between the Start and End stages in the Stages tab. When a new stage is added, you can modify its properties to build the form workflow as
needed. For example, you can add a stage to a survey that thanks the user for submitting feedback
and sends the curriculum supervisor an email that indicates that new feedback is available. After
the feedback is reviewed by the supervisor, another stage can be added to block the user's name and
company information and then forward the feedback to the course instructor.

At any time during the form building process, you can save and preview your work in a web browser
by clicking Preview. Ensure that your browser does not block pop-up windows because the preview form opens in a
new
window.
The Submit and Cancel buttons are automatically added
to your form, and are displayed when you preview the form.

Deploying your application

When you complete
building your form and adding workflow elements, you must deploy your
application to make it available to users. Deploying applications
is done in the Manage tab.

To deploy your application, click Deploy.
A menu of deployment options is available. You can set your application
to have a specific start and end date, and provide a custom message
to instruct users when the application is unavailable.

After an application is deployed, you can provide the URL link to your users. You can also get the URL to the application by clicking Launch and
copying the address in the web browser. If you must change a form after it is deployed, you can do
so at any time. However, you must deploy the form again after you complete your changes.

Reviewing submitted responses

When users
access the application and submit results, the form author, administrator,
or other roles with appropriate access can view the submitted results.
In the Manage tab, each application has a View
Responses link. When the View Responses link is clicked,
you can choose to analyze submitted responses by viewing summary charts
or response records.

The Summary screen displays the survey results in
customizable charts. The Responses screen displays all submitted responses
in a table. You can sort the submitted results by clicking any of
the column titles. Selecting a response displays the submitted data
in a new window.

Forms
that have extra stages have extra buttons in the View Responses screen.
For example, the curriculum supervisor has a button to accept the
feedback, which forwards the feedback to the course instructor. In
another example, such as a vacation request form, the manager can
either accept or reject the vacation request. If the manager accepts
the request, the request is forwarded to Human Resources to log against
the available vacation days. In all cases, an email with the decision
of the supervisor is sent to the employee.

You also can export
all data to a spreadsheet program, such as Open Office, or Microsoft™ Excel.

Conclusion

This overview described the three
high-level steps for creating Leap applications:
building the form and adding workflow elements, deploying your completed
application, and reviewing the submission results. For more Leap information,
see: